1. Field
The disclosure generally relates to hybrid positioning systems and, more specifically, to methods of integrating wireless local area network (WLAN)-based positioning system (WLAN-PS) and satellite-based positioning system (SPS) to improve accuracy of location estimates, increase availability of the positioning service to more users, reduce power consumption, and also to improve estimation of the expected error in a user's position estimate.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years the number of mobile computing devices has increased dramatically, creating the need for more advanced mobile and wireless services. Mobile email, walkie-talkie services, multi-player gaming, and call-following are examples of how new applications are emerging for mobile devices. In addition, users are beginning to demand/seek applications that not only utilize their current location but also share that location information with others. Parents wish to keep track of their children, supervisors need to track the locations of the company's delivery vehicles, and a business traveler looks to find the nearest pharmacy to pick up a prescription. All of these examples require an individual to know his own current location or the location of someone else. To date, we all rely on asking for directions, calling someone to ask their whereabouts or having workers check-in from time to time to report their positions.
Location-based services are an emerging area of mobile applications that leverage the ability of new devices to calculate their current geographic positions and report them to a user or to a service. Examples of these services range from obtaining local weather, traffic updates, and driving directions to child trackers, buddy finders, and urban concierge services. These new location-sensitive devices rely on a variety of technologies that all use the same general concept. By measuring radio signals originating from known reference points, these devices can mathematically calculate the user's position relative to these reference points. Each of these approaches has its strengths and weaknesses, depending upon the nature of the signals and measurements, and the positioning algorithms employed.
The Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the US Government leverages about two-dozen orbiting satellites in medium-earth orbits as reference points. A user equipped with a GPS receiver can estimate his three-dimensional position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) anywhere at any time within several meters of the true location, as long as the receiver can see enough of the sky to have four or more satellites “in view.” Cellular carriers have used signals originating from and received at cell towers to determine a user's or a mobile device's location. Assisted GPS (AGPS) is another model that combines both GPS and cellular tower techniques to estimate the locations of mobile users who may be indoors and must cope with attenuation of GPS signals on account of sky blockage. In this model, the cellular network attempts to help a GPS receiver improve its signal reception by transmitting information about the satellite positions, their clock offsets, a precise estimate of the current time, and a rough location of the user based on the location of cell towers. No distinction is made in what follows between GPS and AGPS.
All positioning systems using satellites as reference points are referred to herein as Satellite-based Positioning System (SPS). While GPS is the only operational SPS at this writing, other systems are under development or in planning. A Russian system called GLONASS and a European system called Galileo may become operational in the next few years. All such systems are referred to herein as SPS. GPS, GLONASS and Galileo are all based on the same basic idea of trilateration, i.e., estimating a position on the basis of measurements of ranges to the satellites whose positions are known. In each case, the satellites transmit the values of certain parameters which allow the receiver to compute the satellite position at a specific instant. The ranges to satellites from a receiver are measured in terms of the transit times of the signals. These range measurements can contain a common bias due to the lack of synchronization between the satellite and receiver (user device) clocks, and are referred to as pseudoranges. The lack of synchronization between the satellite clock and the receiver (user device) clock results in a difference between the receiver clock and the satellite clock, which is referred to as internal SPS receiver clock bias or receiver clock bias, here. In order to estimate a three dimensional position there is a need for four satellites to estimate receiver clock bias along with three dimensional measurements. Additional measurements from each satellite correspond to pseudorange rates in the form of Doppler frequency. References below to raw SPS measurements are intended generally to mean pseudoranges and Doppler frequency measurements. References to SPS data are intended generally to mean data broadcast by the satellites. References to an SPS equation are intended to mean a mathematical equation relating the measurements and data from a satellite to the position and velocity of an SPS receiver.
WLAN-based positioning is a technology which uses WLAN access points to determine the location of mobile users. Metro-wide WLAN-based positioning systems have been explored by a several research labs. The most important research efforts in this area have been conducted by the PlaceLab (www.placelab.com, a project sponsored by Microsoft and Intel); the University of California, San Diego ActiveCampus project (ActiveCampus—Sustaining Educational Communities through Mobile Technology, technical report #CS2002-0714); and the MIT campus-wide location system. There is only one commercial metropolitan WLAN-based positioning system in the market at the time of this writing, and it is referred to herein as the WPS (WiFi positioning system) product of Skyhook Wireless, Inc. (www.skyhookwireless.com).
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional WLAN-based positioning system based on WiFi signals. The positioning system includes positioning software 103 that resides on a mobile or user device 101. Throughout a particular target geographical area, there are a plurality of fixed wireless access points 102 that transmit information using control/common channel signals. The device 101 monitors these transmissions. Each access point contains a unique hardware identifier known as a MAC address. The client positioning software 103 receives transmissions from the 802.11 access points in its range and calculates the geographic location of the computing device using the characteristics of the radio signals. Those characteristics include the MAC addresses, the unique identifiers of the 802.11 access points, the Time of Arrival (TOA) of the signals, and the signal strength at the client device 101. The client software 103 compares the observed 802.11 access points with those in its reference database 104 of access points. This reference database 104 may or may not reside in the device 101. The reference database 104 contains the calculated geographic locations and power profiles of all access points the system has collected. A power profile may be generated from a collection of measurements of the signal power or signal TOA at various locations. Using these known locations or power profiles, the client software 103 calculates the position of the user device 101 relative to the known positions of the access points 102 and determines the device's 101 absolute geographic coordinates in the form of latitude and longitude or latitude, longitude, and altitude. These readings then can be fed to location-based applications such as friend finders, local search web sites, fleet management systems, and an E911 service.
In the discussion herein, raw WLAN measurements from an access point are generally intended to mean received signal strength (RSS) and/or times of arrival (TOAs) and/or time differences of arrival (TDOAs). References to data are generally intended to mean the MAC address, one or more record(s) of it, one or more power profile(s), and other attributes based on previous measurements of that access point. References to a WLAN-PS equation are intended to mean a mathematical equation relating the WLAN-PS measurements and data to the location of the mobile device.
A WLAN-based positioning systems can be used indoor or outdoor. The only requirement is presence of WLAN access points in the vicinity of the user. The WLAN-based position systems can be leveraged using existing off-the-shelf WLAN cards without any modification other than to employ logic to estimate position.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional way of integrating WLAN-PS and SPS, which consists of a WLAN-PS 201 and a SPS 206, and a location combining logic 210.
WLAN-PS 201 and SPS 206 are stand-alone systems and each can operate independently of the other system. Thus the result of each system can be calculated independent of the other system. The estimated location along with the expected error estimation of each system can be fed to the location combining logic 210. The expected error estimation is also referred to as HPE (horizontal positioning error) herein. The nominal rate of location update of SPS 206 and WLAN-PS 201 is once a second. The location combining logic 210 combines location estimates calculated in the same second by both systems.
WLAN-PS 201 is a conventional system which estimates the location of a mobile device by using WLAN access points. WLAN-PS 201 can include a scanner of WLAN APs 202, a device to select WLAN APs 203, a trilateration module 204, and HPE estimation device 205.
WLAN Scanner 202 detects WLAN APs surrounding the mobile device by detecting the received power (RSS, received signal strength) and/or time of arrival (TOA) of the signal. Different methods can be used to detect WLAN APs including active scanning, passive scanning, or combination of passive and active scanning.
The select WLAN APs device 203 selects the best set of WLAN APs to estimate location of the mobile device. For example, if ten WLAN APs are detected and one AP is located in Chicago and the others are located in Boston, without any other information, the Boston APs are selected. This is an indication that Chicago AP has been moved to Boston. In the conventional system the best set of WLAN APs is selected based on geographical distribution of WLAN APs in addition to corresponding parameters of WLAN APs, including received signal strength, signal to noise ration, and the probability of being moved.
Trilateration module 204 uses WLAN APs and corresponding measurements and characteristics to estimate location of the mobile device. Received signal strength or TOA measurements from WLAN AP are used to estimate distance of the mobile device to the WLAN AP. The aggregation of distance estimates from different WLAN APs with known location is used to calculate location of the mobile device. Trilateration 204 also can use a method which is called nearest neighbor, in which a location with a power profile similar or closest to the power reading of the mobile device is reported as the final location of the mobile device. The power profile of each WLAN AP or entire coverage area can be found in the calibration phase of the system by detailed survey of the coverage area.
HPE estimation device 205 is the module which estimates the expected error of the position estimate of the mobile device. The HPE, or Horizontal Positioning Error is calculated based on previously scanned APs and their characteristics and also characteristics of the received signal, as it was explained in co-pending Skyhook Wireless Application Ser. No. 11/625,450 entitled “System and Method for Estimating Positioning Error Within a WLAN Based Positioning System,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
SPS system 206 consists of a satellite signal receiver and measurement device 207, trilateration device 208, and the SPS HPE estimation module 209.
The satellite signal receiver and measurement device 207 receives signals from the satellites in view of the device, decodes the received signal, and measures the satellite parameters from each satellite. The measurements can include pseudorange, carrier frequency, and Doppler frequency.
The trilateration device 208 uses measurements from at least four satellites and location of the satellites in view to estimate location of the user device, velocity, and direction of travel of the mobile device.
HPE estimation device 209 estimates the expected error of the estimated location. The HPE estimation device 209 is conventional and calculates expected error based on geometry of the satellites and signal quality of the received signal from satellites, for example, DOP (dilution of precision), and C/N (carrier to noise ratio).
Location combining logic 210 receives location and HPE estimates calculated for almost the same second from WLAN-PS 201 and SPS 206. In other words, measurements and estimations which are made at the same time are compared and combined. Practically, measurements and estimations within one second can be considered the same time. The location combining logic 210 of the user device reports one estimated location by selecting one of them or linearly combining them. For example, location combining logic might select one of the estimated locations provided by WLAN-PS 201 or SPS 206 based on reported expected error or HPE, or it might report weighted average of estimated locations by both systems according to the HPE.